Health Ministry Report Identifies Israel’s Most Polluted Beach as Achziv

The Israeli Ministry of Health released its 2025 annual report on seawater quality, examining 158 designated beaches across the Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Galilee, and Red Sea. The report found that over 96% of water samples met bacterial standards during the bathing season, indicating generally high water quality nationwide.

However, the highest pollution rates were recorded at the Quiet Beach in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, where 12.1% of samples exceeded the permissible limit for fecal coliform bacteria. This made it the most polluted beach in Israel for the season. In the Mediterranean, Achziv Park Beach had the highest contamination rate, with 11.5% of samples surpassing the maximum allowed levels of enterococci bacteria. Despite this, the overall exceedance rate in the Mediterranean dropped to 1.3%, the lowest in a decade.

The Red Sea beaches near Eilat showed exemplary results, with zero bacterial exceedances recorded across all four monitored beaches throughout the year. The Ministry’s monitoring program involved weekly sampling from April 5 to October 21, 2025, with samples tested for bacterial indicators of fecal contamination. During the year, 38 swimming warnings were issued, mostly due to stormwater runoff, infrastructure failures causing sewage leaks, or unknown sources.

The Dead Sea was excluded from routine sampling due to its high salinity. The Ministry emphasized that most beaches maintained safe water quality, but highlighted the need for continued vigilance and infrastructure improvements to reduce pollution events, especially following rainfall.